Chapman to lead on sustainability

After the departure of Director Julie Newman in mid-August, Yale’s Office of Sustainability will soon have a new leader in Virginia Chapman.

Senior Advisor to the President Martha Highsmith and Associate Vice President for Facilities John Bollier announced Chapman’s appointment in an email to the University Thursday morning. Chapman currently serves as the Director of Facilities Sustainable Initiatives.

“Under [Chapman’s] leadership, the Office of Sustainability will continue its close partnerships with dining, purchasing, finance and business operations, transportations, the professional schools, and other key academic and administrative units across campus,” Highsmith and Bollier wrote.

They pointed to Chapman’s previous work on sustainability at Yale, including the development of the Sustainability Supplement to the Framework for Campus Planning, her leadership of the committee that established Yale’s “Sustainable Design Requirements” and her participation on the Advisory for Committee in Environmental Management. In their email, Highsmith and Bollier characterized Chapman as playing a significant role in building a “university-wide focus on sustainability.”

Highsmith and Bollier also announced the creation of the Sustainability Advisory Council, lead by Professors Michelle Addington and Brad Gentry. According to their email, the council will be tasked with integrating different approaches to sustainability across Yale, as well as encouraging sustainability research at Yale and advising President Salovey.

Former director Newman left Yale to become Director of Sustainability at MIT.